BOSTON — Recently, Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins met John Schneider in his office and told the manager their team needed to start travelling with an iPitch machine.
Similar to Trajekt — a Canadian-developed robotic pitching system that can replicate the arsenal of every MLB pitcher with precise speed, spin, break, and release point, shooting balls out from behind a large screen projecting their delivery — an iPitch can simulate pitches of various velocities and actions to help hitters prepare for any given day’s matchup.
Saturday’s Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito, for example, works from an uber-high, over-the-top slot, throwing a 93-m.p.h. fastball with a relatively flat vertical approach angle, a tight, 87-m.p.h. slider trending into a cutter, and an 82-m.p.h. changeup that fades over a foot to his arm-side.
Punch in Giolito’s pitch characteristics and an iPitch will spit facsimiles out. A Trajekt is more realistic and immersive. But it weighs close to 1,500 pounds. The 160-pound iPitch is practically a carry-on in comparison.
And so, Schneider worked with Blue Jays staff to create room on the team charter — Toronto’s baby blue jerseys and all the equipment to go with them, plus a few sets of golf clubs, were jettisoned — to transport a machine on its current road trip.
Why go through all the trouble? Because the Blue Jays have produced a bizarrely lopsided offensive home/road split this season, OPS’ing .790 at Rogers Centre (the third-best home OPS in MLB) and .664 away from it (fifth-lowest on the road among all teams). And rather than rip out fistfuls of hair attempting to find logic and reason within that peculiarity, they’ve opted to get creative.
“There’s certain routines that you’re able to do at home with all of the resources that you have,” Schneider said. “So, we’re trying to do whatever we can for the guys to feel comfortable.”
Through the first four games of this trip, the gambit worked. Toronto averaged 6.7 runs per game over three in Cleveland against the Guardians before exploding for nine on Friday against the Red Sox. But Saturday was another story, as the Blue Jays ended up on the wrong side of a 15-1 beatdown at Fenway Park.
Of course, the Blue Jays could have scored a baker’s dozen and still would’ve lost due to Chris Bassitt — owner of some jarring home/road splits himself — suffering through one of the shortest starts of his career, before Toronto’s bullpen coughed up six runs over the game’s final six innings and finished its evening with backup catcher Tyler Heineman on the mound sitting 55 m.p.h.
Bassitt entered the game with a 2.60 ERA at home and a 4.91 mark on the road. He exited with a 6.38 ERA away from Rogers Centre, adding more than a half-run to his overall ERA in the process.
“He never really got into a rhythm,” Schneider said of his starter. “It was just an off day for him. Kind of a weird day.”
Talk about it. After retiring his first two batters of the game, Bassitt went single, single, homer, walk, single, hit batter, as three runs crossed and Braydon Fisher began warming in the bullpen, before finally finding a third out with his 35th pitch of the inning.
Inconsistent cutter command — or potentially four-seamer command, as pitch trackers tend to confuse the two pitches — was partly to blame for Bassitt’s sidetracking, as he missed badly above the zone with four before drilling Nick Sogard with another. But so, too, was a persistent Red Sox approach that fouled off 40 per cent of his pitches in the inning.
They fouled off sinkers, cutters, four-seamers, curveballs, and sliders. Up, down, in, and out. It was an impressive display of bat-to-ball and pitch recognition — particularly the hack Wilyer Abreu took against a first-pitch curveball as he wrapped a 357-foot homer around Pesky’s Pole. It was only the second home run Bassitt’s allowed on a first-pitch curveball in his career.
“And he was sitting on it,” Bassitt lamented afterwards.
Interesting. Bassitt’s second inning brought some more spotty command — particularly glove-side — yet far fewer foul balls, a result of the Red Sox putting several in play for hits.
Roman Anthony roped one to centre. Abreu pulled a well-located, two-strike, up-and-in cutter to left for a double. Trevor Story was all over Bassitt’s next pitch, a sinker in, going the other way to drive in a pair.
What was leading to all those comfortable swings?
“I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Bassitt said. “I gave up eight hits and I probably wouldn’t change any location on one of them. So, I’m not really sure.”
Having already thrown 58 pitches through two innings, Bassitt at least saved one in the third, walking the leadoff hitter on three plus a pitch-clock violation. But a single and another walk later, Bassitt’s day came to a close at two-plus innings, his shortest start since Aug. 17, 2021, the afternoon he was struck in the head by a 100-m.p.h. comebacker in his second inning of work and was carted off the field.
You won’t find another non-injury impacted Bassitt start shorter than Saturday’s because it doesn’t exist. And you’ll find only one other — his Blue Jays debut on April 2, 2023 — in which he allowed nine runs. His six whiffs were tied for fourth-fewest in a start with the Blue Jays. The nine curveballs he threw were tied for his fewest in an outing this season. We simply haven’t seen many Bassitt days like this one.
“I have a lot of respect for Alex Cora, the Boston Red Sox, and everything that they do over there,” Bassitt said. “So, obviously I’ve got to dive into everything. Am I being too predictable? Am I tipping? Were their approaches a lot better than what I was throwing up there? Like, what caused that? Because I don’t know how many pitches I threw but, for the most part, I didn’t make many mistakes. And yet, the game went the way it did.”
With Bassitt labouring, Toronto’s intended aggressive approach against Giolito took a back seat as Blue Jays hitters tried to grind out half-innings to give their starter a chance to catch his breath in the dugout. That passivity allowed Giolito to frequently work ahead as he threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of 29 hitters.
The Blue Jays ultimately scattered five hits and a walk against Giolito over seven innings. Myles Straw reached on a Giolito fielding error in the third and scored two batters later when Addison Barger lifted a double into the right-field corner. But that was all the Blue Jays could get across.
Still, Toronto has been a top-10 offence this month and performed well through the first four games of this road trip, taking a meaningful step towards evening out their stark home/road splits. Maybe the iPitch really is the difference-maker. Maybe Blue Jays hitters merely believe it is. It doesn’t matter either way if you achieve the intended result.
Yet Bassitt’s road woes persist. And the Red Sox may have just revealed a new world of issues that could impact his effectiveness regardless of venue. Is he tipping? Is he getting too predictable? Who’s to say. One way or another, Bassitt’s going to spend the next four days trying to find out.
“I gave up hits and they were all basically on the black,” Bassitt said. “It was either a really good approach or I was tipping. I would rather side with the really good approach, given that I have a lot of respect for that organization. So, I’ve just got to wear it. I got exposed. Move on. Learn from it. And just be better.”
